Let me start out by saying that when I was a little kid my parents were very careful to keep me and my sister from being exposed to anything remotely related to witchcraft. They wouldn't even let us watch Pokemon or read Harry Potter. So I have no idea why they got this movie for us on VHS.First off, if you are a Christian, do not let your kids see this movie. The main idea of this movie is essentially that the way to get rid of an evil spirit is just to "care" enough, which is obviously not what the Bible teaches.Second, even if your family isn't religious, your kids have no business watching this movie. Either they will be creeped out by it, in which case they are too young (like I said, the "G" rating is complete bullis**t), or they will not be creeped out by it, in which case they are too old or too mature to be wasting their time on this mindless drivel.Not only this movie, but the entire Care Bears franchise is an insult to any one who has suffered at all in life. Don't let your kids watch the care bears movie or the TV show. Buying them the toys or the greeting cards is fine, but keep them away from the animated series. Care Bears has no educational or moral value. The whole theme of the entire Care Bears franchise is that all your problems will just go away if only you and your friends just "Care" enough. American Greetings, if you're reading this, than all I have to say to you is try telling that to the the little kid who just lost a friend to cancer, or the kid who's dog just got put to sleep.There are some who would defend this movie as being just harmless fun even if they do acknowledge that it doesn't have a very strong moral foundation. To that I say, first of all, anyone over age 4 will be bored to tears over this intelligence-insulting movie. It is not fun, and as for me, I have no fond nostalgic memories of the Care Bears series. Second, little kids need to be learning how to be effectively dealing with the problems life throws their way, and learning that "Caring" isn't always enough. They also need to learn the harsh realities of life, like the fact that holding hands and standing in a circle with your friends shouting "We Care!" over and over again will not bring your dead grandmother back.Have your kids watch Arthur instead. It's fit for all ages, doesn't condescend to children, and is willing to confront the every day struggles and suffering that all kids go through.

Call me a curmudgeon, but I absolutely hate the Care Bears and wish they had never been created. They are, without a doubt, the most saccharine and bland characters created in the last 30 years. So sweet, so nice that you really wish that there was a movie that paired them with Itchy and Scratchy!!! Now I am not really saying I want the really little kids out there to see ultra-violent films, but there gets to be a point when a film is so non-offensive and sweet that it nearly puts the viewers in a diabetic coma! This means, parents, that if you are suckered into watching this with your kids, you are in for a trip to Hades! I just can't see how any sane adult could stand watching these horrid creatures for more than about 20 seconds.On top of these complaints, the animation quality is poor and the script is so mindless and insipid that ANYTHING must be better for the kids to watch. This stuff makes the Teletubbies look edgy!

Let's face it - the world has grown into a rather unpleasant place, and the recent generations of children are more jaded than any I or my mother have ever seen. Toys are over-priced, uninventive and children get bored with them in a matter of days. Children's movies today are much the same, getting shorter and shorter every movie and teaching children nothing.If anyone with children or younger siblings has ever had to suffer through current children's programming, you'll see what I mean. They're reverse-educational; a young child pointed at the Teletubbies sun and said "Baby," and then pointed at the real sun and said "Baby." Blues Clues teaches children to shout(trust me on this one,) and shows such as 'the Wiggles' remind me far too much of PeeWee Herman (the worst "children's" show of all time.)So rewind TV - go back to 80's cartoons. Even though Care Bears were originally piloted to advertise the toys, the show evolved into something NICE. The animation was far from spectacular, especially when compared to today's computer animation, and the story lines WERE simple. But it had something to offer children that 99% of new cartoons don't offer - examples of non-violent resolutions to conflicts, sharing thoughts and items with others, being open about your feelings, caring about yourself and others. These 80's cartoons encouraged children to not be jaded, selfish and rotten brats. (And if you don't believe me that today's violence-fed kids are brats, just go to my sister's elementary school - I've NEVER seen so many 5th graders dressed like whores in my life.)Storyline and morality aside, you should also pay attention to the music. Following the habits of 80's cartoons and movies, there are numerous song and dance numbers randomly inserted into conversation. But they are certainly striking in the boldness of them. And by this I mean the harmonies. Cue up the song "Home Is In Your Heart" on your movie or cd and just listen. The harmonies running through the song feel as though they should clash against each other and explode, but they just miss that clashing point and somehow manage to work very well. You can distinctly hear the SATB lines, and how soprano and tenor carry a lot of the melody and the base and alto are used to interesting harmonies. Just listen. The music was really well written. Long story short, let your children watch movies like this, and if you feel that they didn't learn anything from it, discuss the movie with them. 6.5/10

"The Care Bears Movie" was the most successful of the mid-80s cartoon movies based on toy lines. Perhaps I should stop right there for a moment and address the fact that this movie is indeed a vehicle for product placement. Because of this, the storytelling seems really awkward at times. More on that later.The story concerns Kim and Jason, two orphans who don't really care about anyone because they were abandoned by their parents. Quite heavy stuff for a kid's cartoon, but I digress. Anyway, little do they know that there is a secretive (but not completely secretive) society of cute, magical little bears that live in the clouds and monitor the amount of love and caring on Earth. These are of course the titular Care Bears, two of which, Friend Bear and Secret Bear (The Jay and Silent Bob of Care Bears), show up to try to make friends with them. They all accidentally get "beamed up" to the Care Bears' home Care-a-Lot (yuck!), where the two kids begin to change their apathetic tune.At the same time, a ne'er-do-well magician's helper named Nicholas, who is friendly though quite clumsy and lonely, has accidentally stumbled onto a talking magic book that is trying to trick him into doing evil things. While trying to impress a group of kids with his magic tricks, Nicholas ends up getting heckled and the books suggest to him that if no one will like him then he should make the rest of the world just as miserable as he is.The rest of the movie mainly concerns Secret Bear and Friend Bear's adventures with Kim and Jason through the Forest of Feelings (yuck!) while meeting and recruiting various helpful creatures and also the rest of the Care Bears' journey down a river (while also meeting helpful creatures) to get to Earth and stop Nicholas, whose spells are destroying Care-a-Lot (yuck!) and wiping out all the caring in the world."The Care Bears Movie" seems to be in a rush to do everything, and because of this, things seem to happen a tad too conveniently. Kim and Jason go from not caring about anyone to being fully devoted to stopping the evil book just a tad too quickly to be believable. Also, while one group is traveling through the Forest of Feelings (yuck!) and the other is boating down the river, the various helpful animals always seem to appear just in time to save the Care Bears. It's the type of movie where you can solve any problem by simply adding a new character, in this case these "Care Bear Cousins" (as the product line was dubbed).This is perhaps the movie's biggest faux pas; way too many characters that are poorly developed that exist only to sell toys. There's even a song at one point sung by Brave Heart Lion (The Cousins' unofficial leader) where he gets EVEN MORE animals to join the crusade against the evil book; these ones presumably not important enough to have their own introductory story arcs. But I'm sure they must have made great dolls.Nicholas is the only "realistic" character in the whole movie, which makes his gradual seduction to the "dark side" all the more frightening. (I know, it seems like I'm asking a lot from a movie about magical little bears, but again, I digress). It's here that the filmmakers make their strongest point: many children just need someone to be friends with, and if they don't receive positive influence, there will be plenty of unscrupulous people ready to step in and fill that void.Other than some poor plotting, the movie is also punctuated with plenty of annoying songs about loving, caring and friendship. Trust me, your skin will crawl when former Lovin' Spoonful lead singer John Sebastian sings songs about how "No body cares like a bear" and that "It's great to be in the Care Bear Family."Also, the dialogue... Oh, enough can't be said about the disgustingly cute dialogue! Horrible, horrible things should have been done to the screenwriter! But it is a movie aimed at little girls (a demographic I thankfully was never a part of) and based on characters from American Greetings cards (the Care Bears are from Cleveland, who knew?), so syrupy language is to be expected.I watched this movie again for the first time in more than ten years just a few months back, and if I can say anything absolutely positive about it, it was that it reminded me of my childhood. While there is nothing offensive in it, it's just so cute that during my last viewing I still squirmed around in the chair uncomfortably, laughing inappropriately at all the wrong parts.P.S. Grumpy Bear is of course the favorite of both Care Bears fans and Care Bears haters alike. Perpetually in a foul mood and looking like he would rather be somewhere else, he is perhaps the embodiment of what many parents probably felt being subject to such sickeningly cute drivel. He was definitely a kindred spirit to me whenever I watched this film as a child.5 out of 10 stars for this one. Mostly because despite the poor storytelling and overbearing cuteness, there was a good moral and Grumpy Bear was there for me when I really needed him.